Jada Pinkett Smith opens up about sex addiction

On Monday's episode of her Facebook Watch show Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith spoke on the topic of addictions, and disclosed that she's struggled with sex addiction in the past.

A fan asked a question about whether she's experienced addiction, and Pinkett Smith said: "My sort of addictions jump. They jump around. When I was younger, I definitely think I had a sex addiction of some kind, [thinking] yes, that everything could be fixed by sex. You know what I'm saying?"

Sex addiction, or hypersexuality, is defined by Psychology Today as a condition in which people have "excessive" amounts of sex and feel guilty as a result of that. Symptoms include experiencing intense sexual fantasies, sexual urges, or sexual behaviours over a period of at least six months, as well as having those fantasies, urges, or behaviours interfere with everyday life.

Pinkett Smith said she's faced more than one type of addiction in her life, including an addiction to exercise and, later, struggles with alcohol. She recounted a story about a time she was home by herself and drank two bottles of wine for no reason, adding that she was about to reach for a third when she realised what was going on.

"I was like, 'Now hold up. You're in this house by yourself going onto your third bottle of wine? You might have a problem,'" she said.

She also revealed that she's learned she is a "binger", which is someone who has bouts of excessive indulgence in any one thing, and so has to be careful when it comes to any obsession she finds herself having.

"It's not what you're doing but how you are with it, [and] why you're doing it," she said. "It's the behaviour that's attached to it because if you want to have a lot of sex, that's great, but why are you having all that sex? That's what you've got to look at."

For more on drug addiction and dependency, including information and support, please visit FRANK or Action on Addiction.